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  • Happy Two Month Anniversary to Me


    I’ve been blogging for two months today.

    Already I’ve had a crisis in faith. This page started as a lark, an attempt to document my love and sense of wonder for the world around me. Ridiculously, it attracted some attention, and suddenly I found people telling me how much they admire what I am “doing”.

    What am I doing, exactly?

    What am I trying to do here?
    Who am I to be giving anyone advice?

    I want to be clear here. I am an expert on nothing and an authority to no one. I need to say that in a public forum, to fend off personal feelings of inadequacy and hypocrisy.

    I am just living my life, as best as I can. I am vain enough to post the details (and the photos!) on the internet for anyone to see.

    I am striving to be open, optimistic, earnest, sincere. These are not qualities that come easily to me.

    Two months ago I decided I wanted to change how I live my life.
    My goal was nothing less than to be happy.
    Two months later I look back. And guess what? I am happy.
    How did that happen?

    So, I will continue to blog. Vain as it may be, it makes me happy. I will continue to try to improve the world in little ways. It makes me happy.

    I hope that some of what I write and share is useful or inspiring to others.

    I hope happiness is catching.

  • What One Thing

    Tomorrow is National Get Outdoors Day.

    I have had the question put to me, What One Thing should I do if I want to help the earth? What One Thing will make a difference?

    I believe the One Thing is this: Get Outside. You don’t have to go to a park, or do any hiking, or anything like that. Just Go Outside. Sit. Marvel. Wonder. Take some time to do nothing but look around and soak it all in.

    The key is time. At first you will be fidgety. You will think of better ways you could be spending your time. You will worry. You will not be able to shut your brain off. Think of this as a withdrawal period. Work through it. Give yourself time.

    Relax. Really see. Listen. Feel. The world is wonderful. Think about how miraculous it all is. All of it.

    Life is infinitely complex. The world around us is infinitely complex. Being a part of it, savoring it, is incredibly simple. I think this one action can change your whole perspective. I think it is the most powerful first action we can take.

    But we need to make time for it.

    “…not time subtracted from my life, but so much over and above my usual allowance.”
    -Henry David Thoreau

    My plan for tomorrow is to do something I vividly remember doing as a kid- finding a creek and tossing stones in it. For hours. That’s my big Saturday. I’m really looking forward to it.


  • People from a planet without flowers
    would think we must be mad with joy
    the whole time
    to have such things about us.

    -Iris Murdoch